“we ought to be supporting people like these”
Read moreMy Brother's Keeper
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Read moretwo: communion
communion is a common union of broken people, who are made whole by the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We are united by our differences, and there is a seat for everyone at the table.
Read morePaint the World with Love
The world is watching how the church will continue to respond to the issue of racism that is so evident in our world today.
Read more#7 The Church (part 2)
series: Love Incorruptible
title: The Church (part two)
date: June 4, 2017
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Ephesians 4:1-16, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Psalm 68:18, Luke 9, Colossians 1:18
#3 Seeing Our Neighbor
series: Neighbor(ing)
title: Seeing Our Neighbor
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: March 5, 2017
scriptures: John 8:3-11, Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:4-5, Genesis 3:17, Genesis 3:22-33, Psalm 106:23, Ezekiel 22:30, Revelation 22:1-4
a Thanksgiving meal, on a normal day
title: a Thanksgiving meal, on a normal day
date: November 27, 2016
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Acts 16:20-34
#2 Caught by Grace
series: a case for bad choices
title: caught by grace
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: Septemer 25, 2016
scriptures: 1 Peter 1:5, Genesis 1:2, Deuteronomy 8:2, 1 Corinthians 13:12
#18 Two Trees
series: Red Letter City
title: Two Trees
date: August 14, 2016
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Matthew 7:15-23, Jeremiah 17:5-8, Jeremiah 22:16, Matthew 23:13, Joh 14:6
#9 Love Your Enemies
series: Red Letter City
title: Love Your Enemies
date: June 12, 2016
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 16, Matthew 18, Leviticus 19:18, Proverbs 24:17, Romans 12:21, Luke 22:36, Matthew 26:52-53, Luke 23:34, Luke 6:46, Matthew 22:34-40, Matthew 10:34-36, Revelation 19:15, Isaiah 49:2, Isaiah 11:4, Ephesians 6:17 (rhema), John 1:14, Hebrews 4:12 (logos), Romans 12, Psalm 23, Psalm 23:5
FEATURED VIDEOS:
#3 Community
series: Jesus and Me (and the people we need)
title: Community
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: February 21, 2016
scriptures: Acts 2:42-47, Acts 2:5-12, Joel 2:28-29, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Matthew 5:42, Matthew 6:21, Matthew 19:16-30, Matthew 16:18, 1 John 3:17, Psalm 133:1-3, Hebrews 10:24-25, Galatians 6:2.
#1 Why are we afraid?
series: Cultivate the Romance
title: Why are we afraid?
date: January 3, 2016
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: 1 John 4:18-19, Psalm 2:7-8, Psalm 27:1, Philippians 2:3-4, Luke 1:28, Isaiah 9:2
Fear is an incredibly motivating factor in our world right now, and I have watched over the last several months especially, how fear has actually dictated the way that people treat one another. The way that they accept one another and welcome one another.
The bible has a lot to say about fear, because the reality is, nothing can possibly keep you from being what you are supposed to be in Christ, and nothing can possibly keep you from loving people the way you are supposed to love them in Christ, and nothing can possibly keep you from doing the thing which God has put on your heart to accomplish, more than fear. It has infected my brain in the deepest ways, has already caused some of my vision to flutter, it has gotten in the way of my love.
And if there is one thing that I am determined to do differently as your Pastor here at Courage Church this year, it is this, I am not going to let fear have a voice at the table. I am not going to let fear stop me from trying anything. I would rather strike out swinging, than by watching a home run pitch fly by me while I stand idle, knowing that was the one that had the potential to go over the fence. That had the potential to be the home run.
And I would encourage you to join me this year as you set your goals and you pray about your dreams and the God sized vision for your life, to believe that in Christ, we can do anything.
#3 Women of the Narrative
series: the narrative of grace
title: women of the narrative
teacher: Jacob Bender
date: November 29, 2015
scripture: Matthew 1:3, Hebrews 11:31, James 1:27, Hosea 4:14, Romans 12:19, Genesis 38,
A lot of people talk about Justice. It is something that is very close to the heart of God, but I think that a lot of people talk about it, without even knowing what it is that they are talking about.
I have, in recent months answered questions about what I believe the church should be, and what I believe is important, by talking about Justice. And often when I start talking about that, people get a bit uncomfortable. They are not quite sure how to respond to me, because they don’t understand what I am talking about. They think I mean vengeance.
It is very easy to confuse the two. Vengeance, in Hebrew is the word “naqam” which essentially just means vengeance, – Holmans Bible Dictionary tells it slightly differently when it defines it as “to avenge” or “to be punished”
The idea is to get back at someone… to make them hurt more than you hurt because what they did to you hurt.
It is an anti-gospel that many of us at times have adopted when we allow our emotions or our politics to shape our convictions rather than the truth found in the word of God.
But if you were to ask me, “What is important to you?” and I were to answer “Vengeance” – run. Any pastor who would say that, get as far away from them as you can.
Vengeance is a poison.
The bible says we must never, ever take vengeance. It says vengeance is the Lords (Romans 12:19) but it says that we must seek and defend Justice. Isaiah 1:17 says “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
The word Justice in Hebrew is the word tsadaq
it literally means “to have a just cause, OR to be in the right, or WHAT IS RIGHT…”
Justice is the right thing to do.
Thats the definition. The right thing to do.
Now,
My entire life growing up was always about abstaining. What am I not doing? Am I pure? Do I lust? Do I sin? and there is absolutely no justifying sin, there is no justifying what Tamar did, or what Rahab did, or what David and the wife of Uriah did… There is no justifying sex in any context outside of a marriage, there is no justifying doing any of those things, but I have found, for me, in all my efforts to not do things, I didn’t do much of anything for other people, at all.
In my little “mission” of staying away from the sinful things I got so caught up in that, that I didn’t notice people who were hurting.
I always noticed people when they were sinning.
I was really good at that. I always knew when people were doing what they weren’t supposed to be doing.
But I didn’t notice the stranger.
I didn’t think about the stranger. I thought about my friends. I didn’t entertain angels. I entertained my friends! I entertained people who knew me and had something to offer me, and who made me feel comfortable.
and though those things are all great, if your life is limited to only that, then that is not the right thing.
You know, the bible is full of stories of people who did the wrong thing. Paul talked about it constantly. He said he always did what he didn’t want to do…
King David and the wife of Uriah, they did the wrong thing. And an affair lead to a cover-up, and then lead to murder. But even King David’s mess of a life culminated at grace. It culminated at God looking at him and saying “That is a man after my own heart…. a man who does ALL that I say”
Every instance of people doing the wrong thing all throughout the bible is met with grace.
Because the entire gospel of Jesus Christ is that:
We are people who do the wrong thing.
Yet the bible speaks over and over of a God who is extremely gracious to people who do the wrong thing.
But it seems that He is far less gracious toward the people who do NOT do the right thing (JUSTICE).
The people who ignore justice, when it is right in front of them. The harshest judgments are set aside for them. James 4:17 puts it mildly when it says that “for him who knows what he ought to do, to not do it is a sin.” And Matthew 25 speaks of the harshest judgments going to the ones who ignore injustice.
Yet we focus on the sin part.
#3 The Intentional Heart
DATE: May 31, 2015
TEACHING: Jacob Bender
SERIES: Intentions
TITLE: The Intentional Heart
SCRIPTURES: Proverbs 20:6, Proverbs 22:1, Matthew 6:1-2, Matthew 19:16-22, Luke 18:18-30, Psalm 112:1, Matthew 25:31-46, Matthew 23, Jeremiah 31:33, Isaiah 32:8, Proverbs 19:17, Psalm 112, 1 John 3:16
Love. Serve. Repeat.
“a generous man devises a generous plan, and on generosity he shall stand” (Isaiah 32:8)”
Love. Serve. Repeat.
“Whoever is generous to the poor LENDS to the Lord… and HE will repay him for his deed.” (Proverbs 19:17)
Love. Serve. Repeat.
“Bare one another’s burdens, because that is how you fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
